Amnesty International Australia

Aboriginal people have occupied Australia for millennia, but did you that most people in Australia have never met an Aboriginal person?

Here are five good news and facts we rarely read about.

1. Economy

Homelands contribute $775.78m per year to the Northern Territory economy

Kathleen Ngal, Anmatyerr elder and artist. © Rusty Stewart

Homelands form a central component of the Northern Territory tourism industry, contributing $775.78m per year - approximately 5.8% - to the Northern Territory economy [1].

People living on homelands maintain a spiritual and economic connection to their land. With this cultural security, they can engage in many economic activities such as art, eco-tourism, natural resource management and 'caring for country' programs.

"My paintings are 'maps' of our country, featuring clay pans, soakages and other geographical features, as well as sacred sites and various flora like the Ahakey, or bush plum, which I paint on the blues, purples and reds of a desert skyline. Through my art I am educating the world about my country and my culture. I cannot paint when I'm not on my land. My art exists because of my connection to my homelands. I would like my grandchildren to have the chance to live on their country, to know the stories."
Kathleen Ngal, Anmatyerr elder and artist.

2. Health

Aboriginal people live longer on homelands

© April Pyle

There are many demonstrated success stories regarding Aboriginal health on homelands, and in some areas - the gap has been closed.

A health study by the Medical journal of Australia found that despite the steady rise of obesity and diabetes amongst Aboriginal people nationally, the people living on the Utopia homelands were significantly healthier than other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

A case example: the Alyawarr and Anmatyerr peoples of Utopia have addressed the problems of obesity, diabetes and smoking so successfully that adult mortality rates from all causes have been consistently 40% lower in Utopia than among Aboriginal peoples in the NT. Deaths from cardiovascular disease in Utopia are 50% lower [2].

3. Governance

Community-based decision-making and a 'two way' approach enables tangible health outcomes

Joycie Jones Petyarr, community health worker with the Urapuntja Health Service, showing traditional bush medicine she produces as part of the ‘two way’ health philosophy. © Mervyn Bishop/AI

One of the benefits of the homelands is that Aboriginal people have some measure of community control and agency, and there are many examples of strong governance models and community-based decision-making.

In Utopia, the Urapuntja Health Service model is an example of a rights-based approach to governance. The evidence shows that when health services are accessible, available, appropriate, of a good quality and function in true partnership with Aboriginal people, it is possible to close the health gaps that exist between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and other Australians.

The evidence shows that living on homelands and using a two way approach to the design, delivery and control of health services has successful health outcomes that close the gap in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander life expectancy.
Sarah Doherty, CEO Urapuntja Health Service

4. History

In the 1960s, Aboriginal families relocated back to their traditional lands after decades of assimilation

© April Pyle

For many decades, federal and state government policies forced Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples off their traditional lands and into church-run missions and bigger towns and cities - a process referred to as assimilation.

Despite this dispossession and relocation, Aboriginal peoples' desire to remain connected to their country has remained strong. In the 1960s, small groups of Aboriginal people, usually families or other closely-related people, began relocating back to and establishing communities on their traditional lands and waters. This became known as the homelands movement. Today, one third of Aboriginal Peoples in the Northern Territory live on homelands.

There are approximately 500 homelands in the Northern Territory. Living on homelands allows Aboriginal people to maintain their spiritual and economic connection to their land and raise their families within their traditional culture.

5. The problem

The Government has left behind one third of Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory

Sign to Camel Camp, Utopia homelands © April Pyle

Twenty-one 'growth towns' in the Northern Territory are currently set to receive resources, services and infrastructure. 500 traditional homelands and other smaller Aboriginal communities - that make up about 30% of Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory - are left behind by this policy.

As a result, one third of Aboriginal families are being forced off their traditional lands.

The Government has no right to abandon Aboriginal people for choosing to live on their homelands

"...if people are given a chance to be in charge in their own context, there is the capacity within that culture to make life-affirming decisions; healthy decisions about the way that they do things. This is a living example that it can. It doesn't mean there are not a lot of problems; there's still a huge [life expectancy] gap. But we've shown that our gap is 30-40% less that the gap anywhere else. From a purely pragmatic point of view, 30-40% less chronic disease - that's 30-40% less hospital time and less money spent."
Dr Kamandra Suraswati (Dr Kam), who has worked with the Urapuntja Health Service since 1984.

References

[1] The First-Ever Northern Territory Homelands/Outstations Policy, S. Kerins, CAEPR Topical Issue No. 09/2009 p 6.
[2] The First-Ever Northern Territory Homelands/Outstations Policy, S. Kerins, CAEPR Topical Issue No. 09/2009 p 6.

Read more

• What are homelands? Learn about the traditional communities that are home to around 30% of Aboriginal people in the NT.
• Our report: Aboriginal Peoples' right to traditional homelands in the Northern Territory: Our report explores Aboriginal Peoples right to traditional land and the government's current policies of exclusion that are stripping funds from homelands.
• Meet the people of Utopia homelands: meet some of the people living on Utopia homelands to better understand what life on their traditional, ancestral land is like.
• Homelands in pictures: take an intimate look into the lives of the Alyawarr and Anmatyerr Peoples on Utopia homelands.
• Back to the homelands index page